Insights for the Month of Scorpio

October 23Sun enters Scorpio: 07:23 AM EDTEvery year, here in the northern hemisphere, we descend at this moment into the dark time. We finish with the harvest and lose our leaves. Days get shorter, nights lengthen. We pull in: into our houses, our bodies, our Selves. And whether we know it or not we resonate with an organic kind of fear; the fear of loss. Of course we live in a world so driven and hyperactive we can easily ignore these feelings and twirl and whirl in images and false promises. We believe, against all proof, in things that promise happiness, all manner of tickets to heaven.Of course that’s where Scorpio suffers the most: when denial of genuine feeling seems the better choice. When Scorpio ignores the mysterious power of feeling in favor of jolts of emotion, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” we all suffer.This year Scorpio is in for a host of surprises, if not shocks. Between now and the end of October Scorpio encounters Venus in her retrograde descent and Uranus, the principle of revolution and enormous unpredictable change. At the same time Jupiter is finishing its once in twelve, year-long ride through Scorpio, where it seemed bent on exposing and revealing the injustice of the misuses of power, even as these things keep happening.What to do? Scorpio achieves its greatest potential in moments of deep, relaxed surrender to constant change which is not at all the same as capitulation.

October 24Full Moon: 1 degree of Taurus: 12:41 PM EDT
Venus sextile SaturnAs if to underscore the themes of Scorpio, the Moon opposite the Sun (full moon) reminds us to hold on tightly even as we let go lightly. What’s mine and what’s yours is not a fixed thing. It’s in the exchange that we find the greatest gifts. This is as true for nations as it is for individuals. What do you have that is worth sharing?

October 26Sun conjunct Venus (retrograde)Goddess in the underworld; on the meat hook. Let go what you can’t hold on to anyway. Don’t trust yourself or someone else. Trust only the inevitable turning of the wheel. Today we are suspended, neither here nor there, just as Venus is neither evening nor morning star. She and we live in the moment before exhale, after inhale. We can catch a sense of the still point at the center of the turning wheel, poets, dancing on the heads of pins; mystics, ecstatic in the dissolution of the body and yet alive and embodied. Women, in particular, do well to honor the wise wound, the blood mystery of our bodies. There is nothing to do, simply the power of being.

October 27Sun sextile SaturnLet there be tasks, things to do and order to create. May it calm and relieve the anxious soul in us all.

October 29Mercury conjunct Jupiter (at the end of Scorpio)If you’re searching for the pearl of great price look no further. The greatest treasure is found in the dark, mucky places. Places no one wants to go. We love the paradoxically beautiful notion of ‘the shape of water’ because water has no shape save that of the container it inhabits. We are drawn to the mystery: ‘for if that which you seek you cannot find within yourself you will never find without.” Even, we might say, if you’re solving a scientific or political problem.

October 31Mercury enters Sagittarius
Venus opposite Uranus
Venus, retrograde, re-enters LibraThe day of the dead, when we dress in costumes to remember our ancestors – even though we have mostly forgotten why we are doing it. An invitation to remember the dead through our senses, which is what we lose when we are gone. A common practice among those who have not forgotten the ‘why’ is to prepare and eat the favorite foods of your dearly departed.Be careful, very careful, not to confuse death with murder, torture and general all around wrong-doing. Death, yours, mine and ours, comes with the territory of having been born to life. Fear cruelty, acceptance, kindness; these are choices that we make each and every day in the face of death’s inevitability.Do not be surprised when someone or thing that you rely on, something you believe cannot be shaken, shakes.

November 4DST ends (set your clocks back)A non-astrological factor of time. Fall back and collect one extra hour. An hour you can live twice. Such a strange concept.

November 6 Sun trine Neptune
Uranus retrogrades back into AriesThe mysteries of the deep are quite different than the ones our favorite fictional detectives solve. Even Armand Gamache cannot solve them. In such a time as this, when the turning of the Great Wheel seems wobbly, as if careening toward some end; even now there are moments, points of allowing, when we feel the balance, when we find ourselves at the apex or nadir of a breath, moments when we are suspended: Time stops, space disappears and before you know it, you snap back into the time/space continuum and wonder. “What was that?”. The adventure of ‘Who am I?’ continues as we watch the cowboys wreck the joint and try to figure out what to do.

November 7New Moon: 15 degrees Scorpio: 11:02 AM ESTIf you’re looking for magic, this New Moon has lots. It falls on the exact midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Possibly it is the actual day of the dead, when the veil between the worlds is thin and the year begins its final descent into darkness. Astrology keeps time by the heavens.This new moon asks for our intention regarding descent. How do we step into the dark days? Days that symbolize loss and regret, grief and death? We may become morose or hyper. We also could become thoughtful, contemplative and profoundly surrendered to forces of nature that are greater than we know. Make an intention to carry you into and through the darkest, shortest days of the year. (Unless, of course, you live down under. Wonderland has its own clock. Seems to me that in the southern hemisphere you have an interesting dilemma which is that you carry the collective unconscious imprint of northern hemisphere culture but your embodied reality is opposite to that. A fascinating conundrum…)

November 8Jupiter enters SagittariusIt’s been quite a year with Jupiter in Scorpio; a #MeToo year. Much has changed and Jupiter was there. Now for a year of Jupiter in its own sign of Sagittarius. Will we witness the erosion of women’s (human) rights in reaction to the strength of our protests and laments or will the ground continue to swell and justice for the people be served? Some say history repeats itself. Others that you can never step into the same river twice. Astrologers know that any and all astrological patterns can only be repeated every 24 – 26,000 years. This period of Jupiter in Sagittarius will square Neptune struggling to bring vision and wisdom to the confusion of the day. Of course it is also possible to use it to increase confusion and continue to reap the whirlwind.

November 9Venus trine MarsIf you know what matters, what really matters, you could lean into it, making sure to use kindness and inclusion as you go. Airy trines are meant to be for the people.

November 11Sun sextile PlutoTransformation, change, loss and gain, death and birth: all these things are inevitable. Resistance is futile. Engagement empowers us all. Fear not, ‘It’s life and life only’.

November 15Mars sextile Uranus
Mars enters PiscesEndings and beginnings are the front and back of each other. We all know about the one door closing and the other one opening. In this case we are closing the chapter of Mars in Aquarius. As its parting gift it reminds us that we can’t solve our problems with the same mind that created them. We know that! May we use it, going forward. As Mars enters Pisces it will conjunct Neptune and square Jupiter which conjures images of pouring oil on fire or at least igniting something quite combustible. Stay tuned…

November 16Venus stationery direct
Mercury stationery retrogradeRetrogrades of Venus are quite different than those of Mercury. Venus was about letting go of what doesn’t matter. Mercury is about listening to more than the words; taking time and being more contemplative. Perhaps where they meet is in that Venus is ready to move forward, having cleared away some serious obstacles while Mercury (annoyingly?) reminds us to be reflective, to listen with more than our ears. (And if you’re holiday shopping pay attention to sales. Don’t be tempted unless it’s the right thing…)

November 16Mars square JupiterThe best laid plans can slip on the banana peels of life. A real asset today is a sense of humor. Time to get out the red noses and clown around. Nobody’s in charge, nobody you might trust, anyway.